High Blood Pressure / What would you do?

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Greetings Membas!

This happened to me today and I am sharing this with you for two reasons

  1. Spread information/experiences of things that actually do happen
  2. To ask what you would do.

Today I went to see my GP as a follow-up to some tingling sensation I was getting and for which low B12 was diagnosed as a potential cause. I was given a B12 booster and retested and now B12 is normal (432 which I was told is mid-point in the guiding scale.

I was happy my B12 was normal but my tingling, though reduced has not totally been eradicated. So GP said come and see me and I’ll see if you have Carpal tunnels. It turns out I don’t have these either and so no it’s a referral to neurology.

Here is the interesting bit …

As I was about to leave, I said to the GP shall we check my BP whilst I am here?
Why not she said and so she put the cuff on my right arm and took the reading.
It came back 145/79 - oh, this is very high she said.
I can’t have you running around with such high BP.
It might be a one-off, but better safe than sorry. I’ll put you on Amlodipine (5 mg) and ask you to monitor your BP twice a day for 7 days - she gave me a Blood Pressure Diary and then come back and see me next week.

She also said we might as well do other tests such as your normal bloods (last done in February and normally done annually, but it is 6 months and my BP is high).

She listened to my heart/lungs and took the pulse which all seemed normal.

She has requested an ECG and will look to analyse the urine.

Now all in all, I am thrilled this GP is willing to do all these tests to check my health on the back of one passing comment about BP check which came up high.

Whilst I await the invitations from neurology and ECG, I will monitor my BP and submit my completed diary next week for the GP to analyse.

However, I will not be taking the amlodipine and here’s why

  • GP only took one reading
  • the reading was taken on my right arm
  • I was sitting on a chair and leaning forward and not totally relaxed (they normally ask you to relax for 5 minutes before taking a reading and she may have considered my time in the waiting room as relaxation)
  • I had woken up late for the appointment and had jogged part of the way to try and get to the appointment in time
  • My home tests regularly show BP in the range of 119/78 +/-

And so my question to you, Would you take the amlodipine based on the above series of events?
Remember, the GP is a healthcare professional and is acting in my/your best interest and has prescribed medication to help.

It’s a bit of a silly story, but at the same time there are some serious things to consider from this

  1. Can you always rely on expert opinion
  2. How can you tell if the expert has done all the things they should (e.g. in this case, should the GP not have taken a second reading before prescribing the medication?)
  3. Should alternatives have been discussed - maybe if I had asked if there’s anything I can do other than take medication? That puts the onus on the patient (and why not?).

Look before you leaps

Thank you.

Namaste|
:pray:

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Sorry you are having these tingling sensations & i hope they get to the bottom of it for you.

My experience with BP is that they normally like to check multiple readings to see if it was a one off or if it is consistently high. One off high readings can be caused by many things - a visit to the GP being one of them. It would be usual, in my experience, for them to take more than one reading if it was high the first time. The BP diary is a good thing & i would have thought that meds would only be considered after they had checked your diary.

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I feel passionate about this. My hemorrhagic stroke 8 years ago was caused by high blood pressure that I didn’t know I had !!! Great that your GP is being thorough and doing lots of tests. I wish I had been checked over before my sttoke. Although having said that I was in good health at the time and very rarely took medication and I know that I would have been reluctant to take anything for high blood pressure even if it had been detected. At the time I knew nothing about the world of stroke.

The BP diary is a good idea and will show if BP is regularly high and you can then decide what to do going forward.

I hope you get the tingling sensation sorted.

Regards Sue

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I had an interesting conversation with one of the GPs at my practice when I was being seen for tachycardia which, it turned out, was caused by my blood pressure medication. He’s older than the rest of the practice, has been round the block a few times and I’m inclined to think he knows what he’s talking about. Anyway, he told me to remember that blood pressure is about long term management, not individual readings. Our blood pressure will rise and fall in response to things that happen to us, and we certainly shouldn’t get excited about one or two high readings.

145/79 isn’t even that high, grade 1 hypertension according to ESD guidelines. If you were always at that level it would be a cause for concern, but as a one-off reading? Especially when you’re stressed about a medical condition and visiting a doctor about it. White coat syndrome would be a better explanation. I can understand the monitoring and BP diary to see if you really do have hypertension, but surely asking you to take Amlopodine at the same time makes the exercise pointless?

I’m a big fan of listening to doctors, but in this case I think you’re right to decline to take the meds.

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This made for interesting reading for me as just now I have been through something similar recently with a recent hospital stay.
When I had my stroke last year there were no issues with BP or chlolestarol si initially sent home from the hospital . This time round after 10 hours in a corridor my BP seemed to raise considerably so much so I was given amlodipine on a one off. This seemed to have no effect then the agency nurse realised the cuff was defective, fast forward to hour 18 and a new cuff located all was well again so wasn’t entirely sure if it was the medication , new cuff or that I had a spike due to being on a trolley so long and for next day in hospital it was within range. No follow ups as discharge states clearly no issues for blood.
I am in agreement with you I would ask for a few more readings, in fact my local chemist does this - not sure if this is because I’m in Scotland and our heart health is renowned as poor. Surely several days would give an accurate picture. I would agree both arms for a better spread on results though not medically trained but two arms and equal checks would give a more accurate assessment surely? Not just the jogging but the internal stress of realising you were running late too may still not have passed so question potential for a raise in BP.
For your questions

  1. Are GP’s all experts - it’s medical opinion they give in most cases- not having a go it’s just one opinion.
  2. Slightly the same as above, I cited agency nurse spotting a defect and a lingering question is how often are machines calibrated or checked. And how good is training to use this?
  3. I think all alternatives should be discussed with every patient, is there reasonable alternatives to be explored? Ultimately taking medication as you say is the patients responsibility unless they cannot make informed choices.
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High BP definitely caused my husband’s haemorrhagic stroke last Nov.
Sounds like your GP is very thorough.

You are right though to question how they took your BP.

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Spot on. Your bp is great.
That systolic would have come right down with 5’ and a 2nd reading!
You are more of an expert than your GP. You know what to do !!!

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My experience with BP is that they take multiple readings. And my doctor suggested a BP diary for a week to get an accurate picture.

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Hello Susan - Nice to meet you.

Thanks for sharing your BP experience - I think that is how it should be and I expect the majority of doctors would do this. I can only guess my GP was over enthusiastic, possibly because she is new to the job and wants to do well :slight_smile:

Having just met you, I had a catch up on your previous posts on this forum. I hope you have managed to get things sorted out with the troubles you were having with the lawyers. In some ways your bad experience with the lawyers goes to show nothing is safe from incompetence, corruption or bad practices :frowning:

Namaste|
:pray:

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Just to close this post from my perspective, yesterday I went to see the GP having completed my weeks BP diary.

All week I took BO readings twice a day. I meant to scan it and post it on here, but forgot and so I’ll just say I averaged what I had previous reported ~ 117/78 with the odd 100/69 and one 99/65.

When the GP saw the “low readings” she got rather worried as she thought the medication she had prescribed had been too successful :rofl:

I explained I didn’t take the medication as the first reading I took for the diary was 117/78 and I thought it would be silly to take the amlopideine 5mg tablets and I also mentioned I had witnessed the effect of BP lowering medication on my Mum and was not about to allow the same to happen to me.

Having seen the results, the GP cancelled my medication and signed me off :slight_smile:

End of story :slight_smile:

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Even the doctor who graduated last in his class is still a docor. :thinking:

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You never did say where the tingling was?
It’s just you do a lot of lifting with your mum don’t you? Even if its minimal and limited to just moving her into a more comfortable position. Just holding a new born baby frequently for feeding is enough to gradually build up tension in arm, back, shoulders and neck muscles, pinching or trapping nerves that can cause tingling as well as stiffening and even pain. Just another avenue to consider :wink:

As for the BP, that sounds normal now. I would have said your gp giving you Amlodipine was as a precautionary measure in consideration of your family history of stroke. At least until all your tests come through; but even that doesn’t seem to have been her intention :face_with_diagonal_mouth:

Lorraine

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Hi Lorraine - The tingling could be as you suggest, or it could be rsi (I do use a mouse) . It tends to manifest itself first thing in the morning when I am brushing my teeth, possibly holding the brush too tight and also using cold water to wash my hand. It then peters away and comes up now and again during the day. There was a time, before I had the B12 top-up when I used to feel it on both hands but now it is definitely only on the right hand and mostly the fingers and finger tips.

B12 is now normal and carpal tunnels have been ruled out so it’s over to neurology.

The BP was just a rookie doctor being over enthusiastic. I have been monitoring my BP and sugar levels for a long time and my BP has never even got to the high range - always been below 120/82 and so when the GP did the test, it was the classic I was not relaxed scenario and in any case in such situations you should take at least two more readings to get results that are similar and so if she had taken a second reading and it was high I would have been worried.

I also remember, I was late for the appointment and actually jogged up hill part of the way to get there in time and so this will not have helped. It was just a fun episode for me.

I don’t mind - it didn’t do me any harm and hopefully the doctor learned something from the exercise too :slight_smile:

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That’s a good outcome. I’ve experienced what happens when BP medication is “too successful” and it’s not a great deal of fun. I hope you get some answers on the tingling soon, or that it just goes away.

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Thanks - one way or another it will happen :slight_smile:

My ailments are down to getting old and not taking good care of myself or not as good as it should be. I sometimes foolishly take it for granted that because I eat healthy and don’t over indulge in things that as supposed to be “bad” for you, I am fine. I am aware I need to be more mobile and active and it is something I am working on.

It has come to my attention that I don’t need to pound the streets for hours and get bored to tears or run around a tennis court for an hour or two etc. There are so many different things you can do with little effort but which offer much benefit. Even the simple act of opening the back door and standing in the garden taking in UV rays is something I can and should be doing.

Sometimes we can become complacent and then the body will give you a little nudge to say “Hey wake up Dummy!”

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On the flip side, a doctor finishing at the top of his class is only first on paper until he proves it in the field :slight_smile: There are many who achieve academically, but do not transfer to the field.

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Interested in what happened exactly one month later?

Have a look here.

It’s your life, do with it as you see fit.

:pray:

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Thanks. Thought I should update re the lawyers situation; Two Senior Ombudsmen issued directly opposing findings on the same facts - one in 2023, another in 2025. The Legal Ombudsman actually expects me to accept both contradictory decisions. This is an institution seemingly unable to acknowledge its own failures, even when they’re blatantly obvious!